CPP President Calls For More Support To Funan Techo Canal Development Project
Phnom Penh, June 28, 2024 --
President of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, this morning appealed for more support to the Funan Techo Canal Development Project, which is going to be launched in the very near future.
“This is another very strong national movement of the entire people like the national movement to protect sovereignty, territorial integrity and the national movement to protect the health of the people in the past,” said Samdech Techo Hun Sen in his public speech on the occasion of the CPP’s 73rd founding anniversary (June 28, 1951 – June 28, 2024).
The Funan Techo Canal Project is an initiative purely born out of Cambodian conscience and will that will bring immense returns to Cambodia, such as increasing returns as a result of shortened transport distance and more competitive prices; increasing irrigation and flood relief; expanding cultivation in the southwestern region; increasing fisheries and aquaculture yields as well as promoting tourism, he stressed.
The Funan Techo Canal will help Cambodia strengthen its political independence in terms of waterway transport, said the CPP president, reaffirming that this canal will not affect the environment and the flow of the Mekong River.
At the same time, Samdech Techo Hun Sen suggested the display of fireworks as well as gong and drum beating at the pagodas across the country on Aug. 5 to mark the launch of the Funan Techo Canal Project.
“We have to ensure that Cambodia can have its own inland transport to the sea without having to cross other countries. I believe that this canal will create a valuable ecosystem for the socio-economic development and green environment of southwestern Cambodia,” he said.
The Funan Techo Canal project has very little impact, while the economic analysis and evaluation show that it will provide great benefits for the areas of trade, tourism, urban planning and construction etc.
According to the project’s feasibility study, the US$1.7 billion and Funan Techo Canal project is 180 kilometres long and 100 metres wide upstream and 80 metres downstream with two navigation lanes. The construction would take around four years to complete.
The canal will link Prek Takeo of Mekong River to the sea in Kep province crossing four provinces: Kandal, Takeo, Kampot and Kep with a total of 1.6 million people living on either side of the waterway.